Underdogs need to have ‘razor-sharp’ vision for their business.
Photograph: Action Press/REX Shutterstock

Most challenger brands are businesses borne of singular determination. From challenging perceptions and subverting marketing assumptions to disrupting an entire industry, being a challenger brand usually necessitates starting small, yet the endgame is ultimately to outshine the established players. But how?

1. Throw down your gauntlet

Challenger brands, by very definition, have an acutely defined sense of what they’re seeking to change and why, as well as how.

Jude Bliss runs The Challenger Project, a study into challenger brands and how they succeed. He says challengers have an opportunity to use business as a vehicle to change something in the world, but their vision must be razor-sharp. “Challengers are as clear about what they are rejecting as they are about what they are championing, which involves clearly defining what you see in the current market that is broken, as well as what change you can bring,” he explains.

“For example, Ovo Energy took a clear stance against the big six energy companies who – knowing how infrequently customers changed providers – were exploiting and overcharging them. Defining what you’re trying to change in your industry brings clarity to a business but also helps keep it focused as it grows,” Bliss adds.

Ballantine’s former agency, Revolver Communications, was appointed by Ben & Jerry’s to create a challenger brand strategy that avoided ice-cream cliches while reinforcing the brand’s heritage of corporate social responsibility and ‘wacky’ behaviour.

“We were confronted by three stark facts; Häagen-Dazs was spending a fortune on marketing and successfully selling sophisticated flavours and packs, whereas B&J’s flavours were childlike and alien to most Brits - with garish tub designs - but commanding the same price, plus the founders were slightly overweight bearded hippies at a time when being hirsute definitely wasn’t ‘in’,” Ballantine explains.

“So we turned down every film premiere offered, no matter how sexy – ‘that’s for Häagen-Dazs’ was an oft-repeated phrase – and instead set up sponsorships with four of the UK’s most eye-catching alternative world championships – gurning, conkers, toe wrestling and bog snorkelling – and consequently achieved news and feature coverage for a hitherto unheard-of American ice-cream brand, averaging 245 clips across all media every year for four years.”

3. Ignore your detractors

Sarah Warman, head of marketing for challenger brand success story BrewDog, agrees, adding that challengers need to be discerning about what they say no to, and not easily daunted by criticism. The Scottish craft beer brand launched in 2007 as a team of two but now exports to 55 countries, employs around 500 people and operates 33 bars worldwide.

She says the business wanted to challenge mass-marketed, insipid lagers by creating beer with bolder and more interesting flavours.

“A challenger brand seeking to subvert the existing market can’t do so timidly,” she says.

“Challenger brands must be convinced that what they’re trying to achieve is needed, and that requires an almost arrogant degree of confidence in the validity of your brand or product. One of our early attempts to challenge perceptions of beer was the creation of an 18% imperial stout, which was roundly condemned as potentially responsible for the downfall of western civilisation, so we followed it up with a very low ABV beer called Nanny State.”

4. Keep an eye on your competitors

Warman adds that “no one would bat an eyelid these days” at the launch of a beer with a very high alcohol content, which is in itself a measure of BrewDog’s challenger success. Nonetheless, she cautions that keeping a watchful eye on on the brands that may threaten your business isn’t the same as listening to your critics.

“If you’re not disliked by anyone then you’re probably not challenging the boundaries enough, but it’s still vital to pay attention to what’s happening around you in your sector,” she says. “Know who your enemies are and work closely with your allies because if you ignore your peers you risk dying out or – worse – selling out.”

5. Don’t dilute your offering

Bliss believes the biggest obstacle most challenger brands face is the temptation to give up on what set them apart from the competition in the first place. “All small businesses suffer low points and challenger brands are no exception. It’s common, once initial growth tails off, to panic and pursue the safest option which is to become more like the established brands,” he explains.

But doing that can quickly erode your customers’ trust in the brand and damage any ‘challenger’ credentials you once had.

Warman shares that sentiment. “Copycatting the brands you’re trying to challenge won’t make you stand out, whereas being their polar opposite just might. There’s no point setting out to challenge the dominant players in your industry if you’re then going to hide in their shadow. No-one’s going to see you there.”

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